Immaculate Misconceptions or Trying to Undermine the Edifice? Reflections on the Free Movement of Goods in the EU

The speaker will address three questions relating to the free movement of goods: Long live Dassonville, does Keck survive?; De minimis non curat lex, and Assimilating justifications? And as an apéritif: some inconsistencies in the court’s drafting. In particular, Professor Gormley takes issue with the attempts by some authors to push for a de minimis rule in free movement.

Laurence Gormley is Professor of European Law at the University of Groningen (since 1990), where he also holds a Jean Monnet Chair; he is a Barrister, and a former Official of the European Commission (1983-1990); he is a Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges, and has been a Visiting Professor at myriad universities. He writes extensively on the free movement of goods (OUP, 2009), but also on EU taxation law (OUP, 2005, new ed. in preparation), public procurement law, and judicial protection. He is currently President of the European Law Faculties Association, and he heads the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Groningen.